On November 25, 2021, at the invitation of Myroslava Keryk, Head of the Our Choice Foundation (Warsaw, Poland), the team of the International Institute of Education, Culture and Diaspora Relations, Lviv Polytechnic National University, took part in a seminar on Ukrainian migration to Poland. At the event IECDR was represented by Oksana Piatkovska, Deputy Director of the Institute, Khrystyna Maniuk, sociologist, and researchers Yurii Marusyk and Viktoriia Cherepenchuk.
At the seminar there was presented the study «The situation of Ukrainian migrant women in Poland during the pandemic», implemented by the Our Choice Foundation in late 2020. The participants discussed issues related to the challenges of Ukrainian labour migration in Poland during pandemic. Particular attention was paid to government responses to the spread of the virus, which led to profound changes in various spheres of life, including the labour market, health, education and leisure, and the impact of these responses on the situation of Ukrainian migrant women in Poland.
In particular, the participants of the seminar discussed such issues as legalization of residence and work; the situation of women working in unstable sectors of the labour market (such as gastronomy, care for children and the elderly, hotel business, services, etc.); problems of women who have their own business in Poland or are planning to start it; problems related to the combination of children’s distance learning and housework; social integration and study of the Polish language; health care; key workers and migrant workers; domestic abuse.
The seminar was held within the project «The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ukrainian Migrant Women in Poland. Pilot Research Project», funded by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Warsaw.